Method and system to detect invalid and fraudulent impressions and clicks in web-based advertisement systems

ABSTRACT

This invention improves upon existing pay-per-click arrangements by periodically generating a code associated end users. This code, preferably in the form of a serial number, is compared to the end user of the website, such that by observing a metric like the number of clicks for a given period of time, be it a short time or a longer period, such as a day or a week, the system can automatically determine if certain clicks are illegitimate. This allows the pay-per-click company to more fairly invoice the merchants, thereby preventing fraudulent over use.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/117,929, filed May 27, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No.8,326,763, which is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/781,716, filed Jul. 23, 2007, which is acontinuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/360,688, filed Feb. 7, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,104. All of theabove mentioned applications are incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to network computing of the type whichoccurs over the Internet, for example, and, more particularly, to amethod of protecting the providers of pay-per click services frommultiple illegitimate usages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Over the last few years in particular, the capabilities of the Internethave grown dramatically, with the introduction of new protocols (i.e.,XML), advanced browsers, electronic commerce capabilities, and otherfeatures.

Numerous commercial enterprises are now attempting to somehow profitthrough this new infrastructure, in many cases by providing servicesthat attach a smaller incremental monetary value to a particulartransaction.

One such type of capability is the pay-per-click search enginepopularized by Google and other companies. In accordance with such acapability, a user goes to a website, and inputs the name of goods orservices that they would like the pay-per-click company to find. Variousproviders of goods and services register their websites with thecompany, and these are provided to the user in a list which isprioritized by the level of compensation which the merchant will givethe pay-per-click company if the user is routed to their site. Forexample, using such a system, if a user types in “binoculars,” thepay-per-click system might return five potential links, with the mostprominent one being associated with that supplier of binoculars whichwill compensate for a penny or a few cents more than the links presentedbelow.

One problem with existing systems is that a user may cause anundesirable level of expenditure on the part of the merchant byoverclicking on a particular link. In some cases, it has been known thatsome users have done this simply for the purpose of undermining aparticular provider or competitor. Since the existing systems have noway of knowing whether a link through is legitimate or bogus, theprovider of the goods/services winds up having to pay the pay-per-clickprovider excess sums, with the fraudulent perpetrator remainingunreprimanded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention improves upon existing pay-per-click arrangements byperiodically generating a code associated with the search-engine users.This code, preferably in the form of a serial number, is compared to theuser of the website, such that by observing a metric like the number ofclicks for a given period of time, be it a short time or a longerperiod, such as a day or a week, the system can automatically determineif certain clicks are illegitimate. This allows the pay-per-clickcompany to more fairly invoice the merchants, thereby preventingfraudulent over use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram which illustrates a per-per-click systemincorporating a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which illustrates a typical configurationassociated with a pay-per-click implementation. It is noted thatalthough the diagram includes certain interconnected graphical blocks,these are not taken to mean “hardware” or “software,” but may includeany combination of hardware/software necessary to implement a particularfunction. In addition, although lines are drawn between the variouscomponents, this is not meant to imply that they are necessarilyimplemented in close proximity to one another, since in many cases thesecapabilities will be remote.

The search engine 102 provides a result along path 104 which isindicative of a link associated with different users. Engine 102 may beany existing or yet-to-be-developed system, including findwhat.com,Google Adwords, overture, looksmart.com, kanoodle.com, and so forth.

In addition to the result generated along path 104, according to thisinvention, the search engine generates a code, preferably in the form ofa serial number utilizing a cookie via ActiveX, Java, Javascript, or anyother type of technology based upon the end-user's Global UniqueIdentifier (GUID). In addition, or as an alternative, networkcartography may be generated periodically for each user based upon theiruse of the search engine 102.

Although the encoded serial number is shown being written to a floppydisk 106, again, it will be appreciated by those of skill in the artthat any type of storage capability, such as a flash memory, and soforth may alternatively be utilized. The code (e.g., a serial number)generated by the search engine along path 105 is concatenated with theresult along path 104 through XML link 110. Given the serial numberprovided through the cookie, this allows the concatenation to occurthrough firewalls and other devices which may otherwise block thetransmission as unauthorized.

As the pay-per-click company 120, information is received regarding aclick to website 122, but at the same time, the serial number istransmitted to the company 120 along path 130. This allows thepay-per-click company 120 to invoice the website 122 only when theserial numbers received. According to the invention, a legitimate serialnumber may be generated in different ways, including the first use of adifferent user having a unique IP address, or, if multiple requests aremade by the same user, they may be considered legitimate if they aresufficiently spaced apart in time to be indicative of a legitimate asopposed to fraudulent access to the website 122.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system, comprising: a) generating a unique code foridentifying an end user's computer; b) transmitting said code to saidend user's computer; c) transmitting to said end user's computer one ormore links associated with one or more websites associated with one ormore merchants; d) generating website information regarding a websiteselected by the end user when said end user clicks one of said links; e)receiving said code and said website information from said end user'scomputer; and f) detecting fraudulent activity by measuring the durationbetween clicks by said end user to said selected website by examiningsaid code and website information.
 2. A method for detecting fraudulentactivity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 1 further comprising thestep of: storing said code.
 3. A method for detecting fraudulentactivity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 1 further comprising thestep of: storing said code in a cookie.
 4. A method for detectingfraudulent activity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 3 wherein saidstoring step is performed using at least one of the following: ActiveX,Java, and Javascript.
 5. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 1 further comprising the step of:concatenating said code with at least one of said links to saidwebsites.
 6. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 1 wherein said code is based on aglobal unique identifier of said end user's computer.
 7. A method fordetecting fraudulent activity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 1wherein said code is based on a network cartography of said end user'scomputer.
 8. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 1 wherein said code is encoded.
 9. Amethod for detecting fraudulent activity in a pay-per-click system as inclaim 1 further comprising the step of: preventing a click-through to atleast one of said websites associated with said merchants if fraudulentactivity is detected.
 10. A method for identifying click fraud, themethod comprising the steps of: generating a code, the code identifyingsaid end user's computer; sending said code to said end user's computer;transmitting one or more links associated with one or more web pages toan end user at the end user's computer; receiving data from said enduser's computer, said data including said code and information about oneor more selections by the end user of at least one of said one or moreweb pages; determining from said data whether said at least one of saidselections of said at least one web page is fraudulent; and examining aduration between a time of one of said selections of said at least oneweb site and a time of another of said selections of said at least oneweb site.
 11. A method as in claim 10 wherein said code is based on aglobal unique identifier of said end user's computer.
 12. A method as inclaim 10 wherein said code is based on a network cartography of said enduser's computer.
 13. A method as in claim 10 wherein said code isencoded.
 14. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system, comprising: a) generating a unique code foridentifying an end user's computer; b) transmitting said code to saidend user's computer; c) transmitting to said end user's computer one ormore links associated with one or more websites associated with one ormore merchants; d) receiving website information regarding a websiteselected by the end user together with said code, when said end userclicks one of said links; and e) detecting fraudulent activity bymeasuring the duration between clicks by said end user's computer tosaid selected website by examining said code and website information.15. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in a pay-per-click systemas in claim 14 further comprising the step of: storing said code at saidend user's computer.
 16. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 15 wherein said storing step isperformed using at least one of the following: ActiveX, Java, andJavascript.
 17. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 14 further comprising the step of:storing said code in a cookie.
 18. A method for detecting fraudulentactivity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 14 further comprising thestep of: concatenating said code with at least one of said links to saidwebsites.
 19. A method for detecting fraudulent activity in apay-per-click system as in claim 14 wherein said code is based on aglobal unique identifier of said end user's computer.
 20. A method fordetecting fraudulent activity in a pay-per-click system as in claim 14wherein said code is encoded.